Inside A10 All things equine celebrated
Powhatan, Virginia B1 Crump reaches 700 career wins
Vol. XXIX No. 16
April 20, 2016
Jane Brown named Teacher of the Year By Laura McFarland News Editor
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OWHATAN – The Powhatan County School Board recognized Powhatan High School educator Jane Brown as the district’s 2016 Teacher of the Year at its meeting on Tuesday, April 12. Brown, who was also selected as the Teacher of the Year for the high school, teaches Family and Consumer Sciences and Teachers for Tomorrow. An excited Brown said she was totally shocked and SUBMITTED PHOTO humbled when her name was announced Jane Brown, division wide Teacher of the Year for 2016, receives her plaque from see TEACHER page 6A superintendent Eric Jones.
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Family members of two local young people who reportedly died of drug overdoses in recent weeks release butterflies to carry messages of love to Heaven as part of the Heroes not heroin event on April 17.
Safe way to dispose of Heroes not heroin unused medicine offered By Laura McFarland News Editor
Contributed Report POWHATAN – The Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office announced last week that a business/county partnership has made it possible to offer residents a safe way to dispose of unused prescription medication. With the cooperation of the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors and county administrator Pat Weiler, the county was awarded a grant from CVS/pharmacy to install a drug collection unit/collection safe. The new unit is now located in the sheriff’s office lobby in the basement of the Powhatan Court House. This collection safe will provide residents with a safe and environmentally responsible way to dispose of unwanted, unused or expired medication, including controlled substances. The new unit is intended to reduce the SUBMITTED PHOTO amount of unneeded medicine in residents’ Sheriff Brad Nunnally, county adminishomes and decrease prescription drug abuse, trator Pat Weiler and Sgt. Brad Luxford
Prsrt. Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Powhatan, VA Permit No.19
see DISPOSE page 2A show off the new drug collection safe.
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OWHATAN – Powhatan County had an intervention on Sunday. It was at turns hard hitting, heartbreaking, uplifting, hopeful, and a call for change. But rather than friends and family surrounding a single loved one in trouble, a small group of speakers spoke to a gathering of more than 150 community members and shared a few hard truths about Powhatan County not being immune to the drug epidemic found in cities, counties and states across the nation. The event was held on Sunday, April 17 in the Village Meadow Pavilion. Cindy Harris, one of the organizers, warned the crowd at the beginning of “Heroes not heroin- no more secrets” that there may be things said at the event people there
didn’t want to hear – either because it is too hard to think of these things happening in Powhatan or because they hit too close to home. “We have to understand we can’t educate our way out of it. We can’t have the sheriff’s office arrest our way out of it. We can’t even love our way out of it. I don’t even know what all the directions are, but this is the start,” Harris said, gesturing to the gathered crowd. The event was conceived after the recent overdose deaths of young people with Powhatan ties and getting fed up of attending the funerals of people who died too soon in situations that may have been avoidable, she said. One of the first steps in fixing a problem is realizing there is one. Harris urged parents to focus less on being the “cool parents” and more on asking their children the
Author Nancy Clarke tells story of a girl and her horse By Laura McFarland News Editor
DELIVER TO: Postal Patron Powhatan, VA 23139
see HEROES page 2A
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OWHATAN – The inhabitants of Stormy Hill farm – both the two-legged and fourlegged variety – have been riding around in Nancy Clarke’s head since she was a teenager. The stories of a girl and her horse, a racing farm built with hard work and love, and a family pulling together to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds have popped up at different times in the author’s life. Now the Powhatan County resident has channeled those stories into a book series with six already in print and a seventh in the editing process and slated for possible publication in the fall. The books are aimed at children and teenagers, but Clarke said she has been surprised to find she has an adult following as well. For Clarke, who wrote the stories for herself and never dreamed they would be published, sharing the story of a young girl named Ann Collins and her horse, Lightning, is a true joy. “I want people to become emotionally involved with Ann and her life. I want to start a conversation. I love it when little kids come up to me and talk about my characters like they are real people. I want them to
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Powhatan author Nancy Clarke, shown with her horse Flash, has written six books in her Stormy Hill series with a seventh on the way later this year. The books center around a horse breeding farm in Kentucky.
feel like I do, that they are real people,” Clarke said.
Introducing Stormy Hill The series is titled after the fictional thoroughbred breeding farm in Kentucky where it is set, and the name is featured in each book: Stormy Hill, Stormy Hill’s Legacy, Stormy Hill’s Heritage, Stormy Hill’s Challenge, Stormy Hill’s Gift, and Stormy Hill’s Tradition. The book starts with 14year-old Ann wanting to see her family rise back from poverty and regain its acclaimed position in the racing world. When Lightning, a well-bred black colt, is born, she knows that her chance has come. “It begins with the birth of a promising foal, but the foal is
orphaned at birth. She had faith the foal was going to be the answer to saving the farm. Adults, being practical minded, didn’t believe,” Clarke said. “Nobody felt this foal could turn into a great race horse, but she did.” Ann is a great rider, but it will take more than just skill for her to make her dreams a reality. Even if no one else really believes in Lightning, she knows that he will be the one to change it all. The series starts by focusing
on Ann and Lightning, but in later books, Clarke expanded the focus to other characters tied to Stormy Hill and their trials and triumphs. The series spans several years, starting when Ann is 14 and expected to end when she is 21. Clarke said the books grow with her readers, as the problems the characters face become more complicated. Since the series was originally written for children, she said she didn’t want to go too far into the adult years and the very different challenges they would face then. “I don’t like what I am seeing in children’s books. I think they are too graphic,” Clarke said. “I do tell parents who come up that these are all family friend books. There is nothing in here that would embarrass you reading to your child.” In fact, she hopes parents will see the good messages in the book about dreams coming true, but only when people are willing to work to make them happen. A different twist people might not expect is the fact that the books are set in the 1960s, which is important to the story line, Clarke said. For one thing, the racing world in the 1960s was very different than it is now, she said. see AUTHOR page 5A